Various types of auditory prosthesis systems have been developed to assist patients who have severe (e.g., complete) hearing loss. For example, cochlear implant systems may provide a sense of hearing for sensorineural hearing loss patients by providing electrical stimulation representative of sound directly to stimulation sites within the cochlea. As another example, electro-acoustic stimulation (“EAS”) systems may assist patients with some degree of residual hearing in the low frequencies (e.g., below 1000 Hz) by providing acoustic stimulation representative of low frequency audio content and electrical stimulation representative of high frequency content.
Many auditory prosthesis systems include a sound processor apparatus (e.g., a behind-the-ear (“BTE”) sound processing unit) configured to be located external to the patient. The sound processor apparatus may perform a variety of functions, such as processing audio signals presented to the patient, controlling an operation one or more implantable devices (e.g., one or more cochlear implants), and providing power to the one or more implantable devices.
Some conventional BTE sound processor apparatuses include an earhook interface assembly that facilitates selective coupling of a microphone assembly (e.g., a “T-MIC” microphone) to the BTE sound processor apparatuses. The microphone assembly may include a microphone configured to be located within the concha of the ear near the entrance to the ear canal and may be configured to detect audio signals presented to the patient. The microphone assembly may also provide structural support for the patient to wear the sound processor on the ear. When the patient prefers to use another audio input source (e.g., another microphone included in the auditory prosthesis system or an auxiliary audio input source), the patient may connect a standard earhook to the earhook interface assembly in place of the microphone assembly. In this manner, the patient may still wear the sound processor apparatus on the ear.
It may be desirable to utilize the earhook interface assembly for other types of accessories. Unfortunately, this is not possible with conventional earhook interface assemblies.